I've also seen it as Harvard and MIT graduates, then someone comes in, washes his hands first, saying "at Yale, they taught us to wash our hands before touching a holy object."
Quite OT but I almost always wash my hands _before_ (and after) using the restroom. Especially in a public place, it always made sense to me to do it before and after. It seems much more hygienic both for the "holy object" and other people!
